Goshinkan-Ryu Ju Jitsu™

At Goshinkan Ju Jitsu we teach practical and effective self-defense to people of all ages and backgrounds, using a pure style of ju jitsu. There are very few governing bodies for Ju Jitsu in Canada, The Alberta Ju Jitsu Association (AJJA) is the only governing body for Ju Jitsu in Alberta. All Goshinkan Ju Jitsu instructor's and students are members of AJJA.

Goshinkan is primarily a school of Traditional Ju Jitsu, we also teach aspects of martial arts that have flowed from this proven system of self-defense, notably: Karate, Judo, Aikido and Modern Grappling; we also teach elements of arnis and boxing. Protect yourself, your loved ones and your property

Every one of our self-defense techniques has been tested and proven reliable in real life by doormen, police, security, protection services, executives, athletes, kids and housewives.

The basis of the Goshinkan system of self-defense is that all self-defense techniques must follow the 3 minute rule; that is, if you can’t learn it in 3 minutes then it is of no use. Under stress you will remember only the simplest things, so we rely on whole body movements that are natural and instinctive.

Martial arts continues to evolve and grow in popularity — some for fitness, or self-defense, some for sport — and they will continue to grow year after year. As Instructors, we too continue to expand our knowledge and systems in-order to maintain their effectiveness and practicality.

The Meaning of Goshinkan Ryu Ju Jitsu

Goshinkan is composed of three Japanese words: Go, Shin and Kan. As with many Japanese words, these have many translations, since the meaning of Japanese words often depends on the situation they are put in.

Go means the five virtues of a warrior, according to Bushido, as well as the five virtues of a Goshin student. It also represents the five steps to a confrontation response, which are: exit or talk, distract, move in, takedown, & hold-down. Lastly, it can be interpreted as hard techniques and movements.

Shin, when combined with Go, creates “self-defense; or protection of the body.

Kan is the hall or school for the study of the way. Kan is also the meaning for Canadian Style of Ju Jitsu.

Goshinkan is the home of self preservation; home of the strong spirit and school of self-defense.

Some early Edo-period schools, especially those founded by warriors with practical combat experience, showed a very pragmatic and effective approach to self-defense. They included techniques suitable both for combat on the battlefield and for peacetime situations. In these more pragmatic ju jutsu schools, the nucleus of the curriculum was ju jutsu but instruction was also given in the use of various weapons. At the end of the Edo-period some ju jutsu schools shifted their focus from combative systems for warriors to peacetime fighting systems and a new type of ju jutsu appeared — the “commoner’s yawara.”

This style of ju jutsu was developed for, and by, common people, usually those with little or no martial arts training. It had limited application and focused mainly on unarmed fighting. This was very logical because commoners were not allowed to possess the weapons the samurai needed to be familiar with. Commoners also had no use for techniques that could only be mastered with years of rigorous training since martial arts training was not part of their daily routine. Techniques were limited to ordinary self-defense situations such as street fighting; because the techniques were for the most part defensive in nature, these fighting arts were also referred to as “goshinjutsu” (art of self-defense).

To understand our “Mon & Kanji” we must first define the terms:

Mon are insignias or crests to depict family name.

Kanji are characters that correspond to a word, and by combining these characters more words are created.

Our Mon consists of 5 Kanji characters and a symbol. The top two characters mean “Ju Jitsu”, the lower three “Bushido”. The symbol is the central figure and carries many meanings, the first being the blending of In and Yo.

As some may know, the In-Yo is the Japanese counterpart to Yin-Yang (characters traditionally shown as opposites eternally chasing one another). However, where Yin and Yang are always in harmony, in balance, the Japanese believe that "light" is always greater than "dark" (as indicated by the dark circle being smaller by the light circle). Here, however, In and Yo have merged, representing the coming together of opposing aspects, much as there are opposing aspects within our art which come together to create a technique (for example: compression and extension – opposite principles, yet when combined they create a joint lock; both principles necessary for the end result). Now blended, the traditional black and white combine to become red: the colour of both joy and anger in the East, life and danger in the West.

The symbol also consists of five points of intersection, a visual reference to the meaning of “Go”.

Finally, this symbol can be traced to the head instructor of our dojo's, Kevin D. Lintott Shihan , as he is the one who created it and defined its multiple meanings. It has become a part of the Goshinkan history and much as a family crest is the visual representation of one’s roots, this is the visual representation of our dojo and it's roots.

Important News and Events

The Warrior's Way

Bushido, the warrior's way, means many things to many people, but its underlying principle is the never-ending quest for self-perfection through mastery of technique and of self; a commitment to deal with all things honestly, honourably, and with a healthy dose of humility.